


A Little Bit Closer

by julesbarrett



Category: Undrafted (2016)
Genre: Baseball Idiots, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Issues, Friendship/Love, Meet-Cute, POV Third Person Limited, Romantic Fluff, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-08 13:04:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julesbarrett/pseuds/julesbarrett
Summary: Summer's always supposed to be that magical time of year where anything can happen and there's nothing to worry about till September rolls around. At least until you hit your mid-twenties and suddenly summer is just the same as the rest of the year, only hotter. But there are still some exciting things that can happen. Like patriotic firework displays, summer league baseball teams who take things way to seriously, awkwardly meeting your downstairs neighbor and quickly falling into like and lust and other L words along the way. Just the normal fun summer activities.





	1. The Boy in 3F

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a new story based off of the movie Undrafted - starring, written and directed by Joe Mazzello (aka my favorite person on the planet). I absolutely fell in love with the movie the first time I saw it and of course totally adore Patrick Murray. This takes place about a month and a half before the events of the movie and will eventually cover the movie and then life after that. I own nothing that you recognize and any real life people being portrayed here are meant to be viewed as fictional and this shouldn't be considered any kind of reflection on them. The only characters I own are Kira Baker and Molly Lewis - the two best friends you meet in this first chapter.
> 
> If you enjoyed this first chapter, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. And if you want to find more updates or ask any questions about the story, feel free to reach out to me over on [tumblr](http://centerfieldspaz.tumblr.com).

For the most part, it had been a fairly quiet night in the Baker-Lewis apartment. A side effect of Kira being left by herself in the cozy two bedroom space they’d been renting out for the past eight months. A delivery of fried dumplings and special lo mein from Mr. Wong’s and a repeating playlist of 70s rock was a peak on the excitement for her night and that was okay. She typically preferred the quiet nights at home. Especially when she had a project to work on like the rather large watercolor landscape she had spread out across their dining room table. She’d started around eight, taking advantage of the fact that Molly was out at her cousin’s bachelorette party and most likely wouldn’t be home for several hours. After sketching the outline, taking a break to eat and watch half of a Project Runway rerun, and dealing with the fact that the sweet but senile Mrs. Lockley next door had managed to misplace one of her cats (again), she’d been hunched over the canvas for going on an hour and a half. Despite the definite twinge in her back and the fact that she’d underestimated how much paint she’d actually need, she was reluctant to step away. Then the chorus of Magic Man was replaced by the sound of her phone ringing and she was lucky she didn’t wind up dragging the brush straight across and being left with a wreck of a painting.

The clock said quarter to twelve which meant there was really only one person most likely calling her. Setting the paintbrush next to the palette and digging her phone out from under the reference sketches she’d tossed aside earlier, she saw Molly’s name flashing across the screen. It was a little earlier than she had expected to hear from her best friend. She wasn’t sure where they’d planned on going but she knew that there was at least two bars in town that would still be open past midnight. She answered, half expecting to hear a gang of girls doing karaoke in the background. “Molls? What’s up?”

“Keeer-uh! Where are you?? You said you’d be here!” Surprisingly, there wasn’t any singing or drunken shouting in the background of the call. Molly was almost shouting into the phone but that was pretty much par for the course when the girl had been drinking. Her volume control wasn’t particularly good when she was sober, let alone after a few drinks. Softer and seemingly directed to someone else, she said, “Shh, just stop. I’m talking to Kira.”

“What are you talking about? I was never even invited to Lauren’s party. We’ve barely talked since the tenth grade. You couldn’t pay me to hang out with her, let alone celebrate her impending nuptials.” She heard a guy’s voice in the background, something about being at his apartment, and a wave of concern hit her. Their town was a far cry from being a hotspot for crime but she didn’t like to think of Molly having gone home with some random guy who’d taken advantage of her being friendly and sloshed. “Where are you? Molls, where’s Lauren and the others?”

“I left them back at Tito’s, it got super fucking lame when Trina started crying about how Doug’s never gonna propose and she’s gonna waste her life waiting for him to put a ring on it and - No, I said just wait. I’m talking to Kira. She’s very important.” Kira could hear her friend huffing in annoyance at whoever she was having a second conversation with before giving her full attention back to the phone call. “I’m at home but you’re not here. You said you were staying home all night and just embracing the creative process or whatever. Where are you? There’s some guy here instead and he’s being kind of a jerk. Keeps saying we don’t live here. And he got rid of our sassy doormat. I love our sassy doormat. It shows we’re fun.”

“Molly, I am at home. I’m standing in our dining room and I assure the sassy doormat is still in its rightful place. Can you put the guy on the phone for a sec?”

Another heavy sigh and then more muffled, she heard Molly saying, “Here, she wants to talk to you. But you better be nice cuz Keer doesn’t take shit from anyone.”

“What - no - wait - Hello?” The voice on the other end was a guy who was clearly as confused about the situation as she was. That gave her some tiny sense of comfort. Not angry, just clearly confused and annoyed.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are or what’s going on but you see that beautiful blonde in front of you? She’s been my best friend for the last seventeen years and if I get there and there’s even a hint that you fucked with her, I’ll make you regret this night for the rest of your life. Got it?”

The response she got was a stream of flustered sounds, ranging from shocked to pissed and all in all virtually unintelligible. Finally, he had a response, telling her, “Look, I don’t know your friend and I don’t know why the fuck she’s here. But she just showed up, banging on my door and insisting that this is her apartment.”

“It is my apartment!” she heard Molly exclaim in the background, earning another noise of frustration.

“No, it’s not!” he argued back before saying to Kira, “Look, your friend’s fucking trashed. And she’s lucky I didn’t just call the cops when she showed up trying to force her way into my apartment.”

“Look, give me the address and then I’ll pick her up and you’ll never have to see us again.” Kira grabbed a pen, ready to scribble down the address he gave her. The reality was that she didn’t need to. “Seriously? Which apartment is yours?”

“3F,” he answered simply.

Grabbing her keys off the counter and leaving the apartment for the stairwell, she was down to the third floor before he could ask another question. When she turned down the hallway, she was greeted with the sight of Molly pouting in the middle, heels in one hand and hair a little worse for wear. And standing in the doorway directly under their own apartment was a rather confused and frustrated guy with a mess of auburn hair, awkwardly holding onto a neon green phone that clearly wasn’t his own. She hung up her own phone, shoving it into the pocket of her sweatpants, and made her way to collect the drunk blonde.

“KIRA! Where have you been?!” Molly met her halfway, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl and leaning a little too heavily on her. She stumbled back half a step before straightening up, wrapping her own arm around Molly and trying to steady her. “You said you’d be at home.”

“I was at home, Molls,” she told her, rolling her eyes a bit. She felt a little ridiculous for the overprotective stance she’d taken during the call but tried not to let it show. She’d rather be the overprotective bitch first and apologize if necessary later. Their third floor neighbor was watching the both of them with more confusion, still stuck with Molly’s phone in his hand. “You stopped on the wrong floor. We’re up one more.”

“Oh. Well…I guess that explains Mr. Grumpy Pants over there. He’s really not being that friendly of a neighbor. Kinda cute but… just like suuuuper grumpy.”

“Hate to say it but I’m not sure I can blame him on that one, Molls. Look, just go up upstairs and look for our sassy doormat. It’s still there I promise. I’ll be right up. Just gonna talk to Mr. Grumpy Pants for a sec.”

“Okay, but don’t forget to get my phone. It has all my pictures on it. And I just got that case.”

“I won’t forget, don’t worry.” She watched for a second as Molly made her way down to the stairwellbefore turning back to the guy still holding her best friend’s phone. He looked vaguely familiar but then again she hadn’t taken a lot of time to talk with any of her neighbors aside Mrs. Lockley and her three cats. And he was cute, despite the annoyed look still lingering on his features. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that she was wearing her oldest (and comfiest) pair of sweats that she’d had since sophomore year of high school or that her hair probably looked like it hadn’t been brushed in seven years. She was just glad she hadn’t gotten comfy enough to be braless at this point in her evening. It wasn’t possible for her to be taken seriously if she was braless. Walking over to him, she offered a polite but weak smile and a simple, “Hi.”

“Hi?” he echoed, looking at her with a bit of caution. That was fair. He didn’t return the smile but really, she didn’t blame him. If the roles had been reversed she probably would’ve been more put off than he seemed to be. Not to mention this was quickly placing in her top five awkward moments for the year and really she just wanted to grab the phone and get back upstairs. There was an awkward pause before he offered the phone back to her, which was quickly tucked into her empty pocket as his hands stuffed into the pockets of his own pajama pants. “So you guys…”

“We’re in 4F,” she quickly explained as if that solved everything. He didn’t ask for her to elaborate further which she was grateful for. Her gaze focused down on the floor and the Yankees doormat sitting outside his front door. “Look, sorry about the whole…you know, threatening you thing. Kind of assumed the worst and just…went into protective best friend mode.”

She caught sight of a slight nod as she glanced back up. His hand reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “So this means you won’t try and threaten physical or emotional harm if we bump into each other at the mailboxes?”

It took a moment for her to realize he was cracking a joke and once she did she couldn’t help the snort of laughter that slips out, a slightly more comfortable smile tugging at her lips. Nodding, she agreed, “Yeah, mailboxes can be neutral territory. Our very own Switzerland.”

“Cool.” There was a little twitch upwards at the corner of his mouth and at least she could guess there probably wouldn’t be any complaints to their super because of this. “You, uh, you might wanna go find your friend before she goes through this all over again with someone else.”

“Right. Uh, sorry again for…well, everything.” She gave a brief awkward wave before making her way back to the stairs, glancing back for a second to see him going back inside his own apartment. Heading back upstairs, Molly was waiting for her in the hallway, leaning on the wall next to their apartment door. “Didn’t feel like going inside?”

“I think I left my keys in Lauren’s car,” she answered simply with a tired shrug. “Our doormat’s still here. Way cooler than the one Grumpy Pants had.”

Kira just shook her head a bit. This wasn’t the first time she’d had to deal with a drunk best friend. She’d been the designated driver more times than she could count over the years and had gotten particularly skilled at maneuvering with the girl who was half a foot taller than her. Wrapping an arm around her waist, she opened the door and they made their way inside. “How much did you drink tonight, Molls?”

“Not - not a ton…like three - three and a half margaritas.”

“Regular or fishbowl?”

“…fishbowl.”

“Shit, Molls, how are you still upright?” The blonde didn’t answer but it wasn’t necessary. The pair made it to Molly’s bedroom, clothes from earlier in the evening still strewn all around the room. As soon as they were at the bed, Molly flopped down, sprawling out across the mattress with her heels still in hand. Kira grabbed those from her, tossing them over by the closet. It took some effort and a bit of persuading to get her sleepy drunk to cooperate but eventually Kira was successful in getting her under her covers and on her side. A trash can was put by the night stand and she knew there’d be a long list of complaints in the morning about the horrors of excessive alcohol consumption and how she’d never be drinking again.

“Keer?” She’d been about to head back to the living room when she heard her name, stopping in the doorway. Molly propped herself up enough to look across the room, head cocked curiously. “You think that guy’s gonna call the super and complain about me?”

“Probably only if you keep calling him Mr. Grumpy Pants next time you see him around the building,” she replied with a small smile and a shrug.

“Guess that’s fair,” she agreed, laying back down before calling out as an afterthought, “Well, do you know what his name is?”

“Not a clue.”

“Balls…”

She laughed at that, shaking her head and flipping off the light switch by door. “Go to sleep, margarita queen.”

“Yes, mother.” Kira made a loud noise of annoyance at the comment which earned one last laugh from her roommate before she closed the door and went back to the project still spread out across their dining room table.


	2. Chance Encounters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read chapter one of this story, to everyone who left a kudos, and to the super awesome people who reviewed. You're all so lovely. Here's chapter two. Lots more Patrick in this one, I promise! Again, I own nothing except for the characters you don't recognize from the film. Also, this isn't currently being beta read by anyone so please excuse any errors I overlooked.

Kira had been sixteen when she first started working at Roaslie’s Art Center, stocking shelves and selling assorted art supplies on the weekends and after school. The corner shop had been there for close to sixty years, starting off as a general store and pharmacy back in the 50s and rebranding in the early 90s as the town’s spot for all art based needs. The owner, Rosalie Grant, had been running the show since she’d inherited it from her father. And when the teenager had come in with blue streaks in her messy dark hair and paint stains on her jeans and her hands, she’d hired her on the spot. Eight years later and she’d taught Kira just about everything she knew both about art and about running a business. It wasn’t exactly an exciting career and certainly not what her parents had hoped for her to pursue but, for Kira, the shop had become a second home for her. And on Mondays, her home was mostly back in the stock room, trying to figure out what all needed to be ordered that week.

She’d come in around ten, helping deal with the little rush they got from some of the little old ladies coming in to get supplies for whatever projects they were working on. By noon, she’d migrated back to the stock room and started going through her list. She was a third of the way through when Molly came strolling into the back like she owned the place. Thankfully for the both of them, Rose had taken a shine to Molly as well when the girls were still in high school and had never had much issue with Kira socializing while she worked. Hell, half the time Rose would come and join them for whatever gossip Molly had. And once Molly started working at the bank three streets over, she’d started spending her lunch hours at the shop with Kira, usually with some absurd story that had happened during the first half of her day.

“Hey, loser, why haven’t you responded to any of my texts? I have very important things to tell you and you’ve been ignoring me. You of all people know that I thrive on attention.” Molly stood in the doorway for a minute with her hands on her hips, doing her very best to look serious. For a moment it actually worked,helped by the fact she was dressed for work in a pair of slacks and had her hair pulled back into a professional twist. The illusion was shattered when she went over and hopped up on the empty space on one of the countertops and started swinging her long legs back and forth. “Come on, don’t you want to know the very important news I have for you? You know you do.”

“Molls, last time you insisted you had very important news it was you wanting me to watch a three minute compilation of dogs sneezing. I don’t really trust your judgement on important news these days.” Molly scoffed and rolled her eyes, managing to find a pen near her to throw across the room in Kira’s direction in annoyance. It missed by a good five feet but that didn’t stop Kira from glaring or Molly from looking a little smug. There was a stare down between the girls for a whole minute at most before she gave in and asked for the information Molly had been dying to share. “Fine, what is so important that you brought your dramatic ass over here to share it? Hmm?”

Molly perked up, a look of success on her face as she smiled smugly and told her, “I bumped into our cute, grumpy downstairs neighbor this morning on my way to work.”

There was a beat of silence in the room before Kira said, “That was the ‘very important’ news that you just had to tell me? That? Did he threaten to have us evicted or decide that you showing up at his doorstep drunk at midnight is a sign you’re meant to be together or some other bullshit? Please tell me there’s more to this than you bumping into a random guy who lives in our building.”

“No one’s getting evicted. And his name’s Patrick so he’s no longer just some random guy. And I’m not the fourth floor girl he was asking about this morning.”

“What are you talking about?” Kira asked, eyebrow raised in question as she leaned back on the shelves she’d been sorting through.

“What I’m talking about is that after our awkward reintroduction that involves me when I haven’t tried drinking my weight in tequila, the only thing he was really interested in was my lovely, lethal, little roommate who’d left him equal parts frightened and turned on.”

A snort of disbelief escaped as Kira shook her head, cheeks still heating up at what Molly had said despite how absurd it was to her. “I know you seem to think you’re funny, Molls, but it’s sounding a little more delusional these days. We spoke for like two minutes. And I was wearing one of my paint shirts. I probably looked like a hobo. Not exactly the kind of ensemble that leaves men turned on.”

“Okay, first of all, I resent being called delusional. I like to think I just see things differently. And secondly, you weren’t there. His face was as red as yours is now.” Kira gave her a glare at that but it only made the blonde girl smile wider. “And second of all, he was with his roommate - who’s also cute by the way, you can put in a good word for me once you get yours - and he seemed to know exactly who you were as soon as I started talking about you. And he was making the same faces that I am right now so I know that I’m right.”

“I still stand by my theory that you’re delusional,” she mumbled, turning back to the boxes and pulling down one that was half filled with tubes of assorted acrylic paints. She couldn’t see but based on the heavy sigh she heard from her friend that eyes were being rolled at her.

“You know you’re being incredibly ridiculous right now.”

“Excuse you, I am the one sane man left on your island of crazy.”

“He likes you.”

“He doesn’t know me.”

“He thinks you’re hella cute.”

“Somehow I doubt he’s the kind of guy who says ‘hella’ regularly.”

“Keeeeer-uh! Come on! You were blushing every time I mentioned him yesterday.”

“Because I was mortified that I threatened a guy on your behalf and now have to run the risk of bumping into him every time I leave the apartment!”

“Puh-lease. How many dickheads have you threatened over the last decade and I’ve never seen you once act like this. This is how you act when get all heart eyed over a cute face. You can’t trick me.”

“I am not getting all heart eyed over our downstairs neighbor.”

“I’m sorry but you still suck at lying. You sucked when we were nine and you suck now.”

“Molly -“

“No, Keer, come on. This guy was cute and you clearly think so because you’re way more embarrassed about this than you would be if you didn’t actually give a shit. So why are you being a stubborn bitch about this?”

“Look, just drop it, okay. It’s not a big deal.”

“Nope, not happening.” She turned around to see Molly hop down from where she’d been perched, going over to poke her head out of the door to the stock room. “ROSE!”

“No, Molly, what are you -”

“You know, this room’s not exactly sound proofed right?” Kira offered a sheepish grin as her boss poked her head into the room, looking more amused than irritated. “Lucky for you, me and old Ginny Bradford like listening to you two prattle on instead of telling you to shut your pieholes. Now, what’s with all the fuss?”

“Rose, can you please explain to my dear friend here that she’s beautiful and any guy would be lucky to have her and if she wants to try and bone the cute downstairs neighbor, she should.”

“MOLLY!”

Rose stepped fully into the room, leaning her five foot nothing frame against the doorframe and fixing Kira with one of those no-nonsense looks she’d been getting since she was in high school. “Kid, you’re a goddamn Greek goddess. Don’t let any man, woman, or child ever tell you different. You hear me?”

“Yes ma’am,” Kira answered, smiling despite the blush on her cheeks.

“Good. Now, Mollykins, you keep loitering in my stock room and I’m gonna put you to work without pay.”

“Oh shoot, look at the time, lunch break’s just about over.” Molly hopped off the countertop and made a beeline for the door, offering them both a wide grin as she left.

* * *

 

The subject of their downstairs neighbor - the one Molly had taken to referring to cleverly as “cute neighbor” - had come up a handful of times since Monday afternoon, much to Kira’s annoyance. She’d hoped twenty-four hours would’ve been enough for the subject to be abandoned but it seemed her friend was fixated for the moment. She was just grateful that neither of them had had any more run-ins with the guys in 3F since then, not sure how much she could trust the blonde to keep from meddling in something that didn’t need to be meddled in. So when she had Thursday afternoon off and was headed to her sister’s house to paint the mural she’d promised her niece three months ago, she was happy to avoid Molly and whatever new batch of ideas she’d come up with since breakfast.

Arms filled with her assorted paint supplies, she made it about halfway down the stairs without incident. Then the drop cloth she had draped over her arm managed to catch under her foot and it was just one step away from turning into a potentially painful experience. Then a pair of hands caught her, keeping her from going headfirst down the flight of stairs. A pair of hands conveniently connected to the cute neighbor they’d been discussing all week. Her face had already been flushed from the heat the stairwell seemed to radiate during the summer and she was grateful she could leave that as the reason why her cheeks were probably bright red.

“Shit, you okay?” He looked as startled by their run-in as she felt, eyes wide as they looked up at her from where he stood two steps below her. She was quick to nod an answer, leaning against the railing for a bit more support as she tried to balance everything in her arms once more.

“Yeah, no, I’m good, thanks - thank you for…that. Probably would’ve done a pretty ugly face plant on the landing if you hadn’t been there.” She could practically feel the heat radiating off her cheeks with every word out of her mouth, tempted to just duck around him and get out of the building as fast as possible.

“Glad we avoided that then,” he replied with a small half smile, the corner of his mouth quirking up and earning a similar reaction from Kira without her even realizing it. “Do you need a hand with this stuff?”

“Oh no, no, I’m - I’m good, really, I got this. Besides, you’ve got your own stuff and we’re obviously going in opposite directions.”

Much to her surprise - and the further reddening of her cheeks - the gym bag she’d noticed hooked over his shoulder was dropped onto the landing a few steps below them with a shrug. “If someone’s crazy enough to steal some old smelly cleats and my gym shorts, they’re welcome to keep them. Besides, kind of feel like this was all a waste if I can stop you from hurting yourself here only for you to fall down the next set of stairs.”

Before she could so much as protest, he’d managed to untangle the drop cloth from her one arm and grab the bag holding the paints from her other, leaving her with just the brushes and change of clothes she’d tossed in an old tote. She could already imagine how Molly would be squealing when she told this story later that night. “You’re making some pretty serious assumptions about someone you don’t know over there,” she replied, making her way down to the landing as they fell in step with one another.

“Well, I kind of feel like I’ve got a good judgement on your potential to fall down the stairs in this particular situation,” he shot back, earning a soft chuckle from her in surprise. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting after their encounter the other night.

“Cracking jokes about a girl’s coordination before you’ve even asked her name. You’re kind of contradicting the whole white knight act you just pulled a second ago.” That one earned a laugh from him in return and she felt the small smile settling on her lips widen a bit.

“Don’t have to ask. It’s Kira. You’re roommate said it several times and loudly the other night. Not something I’d forget anytime soon.”

She winced at the mention of Saturday night, ducking her head in embarrassment. “Fair enough.”

“But, uh, I’m Patrick. Pat. Either - either one really works.”

“Nice to officially meet you.”

“Nice to officially meet you too.”

Kira glanced over at him and almost missed a step when she saw the warm smile he was offering her. It wasn’t particularly wide or overly enthusiastic but it felt incredibly genuine and caught her by surprise. She quickly turned her gaze back to the stairs, careful where she took her next step. “So you said something about old cleats and gym shorts? Is that the usual gear for your Thursday afternoons?”

“In the summertime, yeah. There’s a summer baseball league, just like half a dozen teams, that’s been going on for the last few years. I’m on a team with some guys I went to school with.”

“Oh cool.” She wasn’t sure where to go from there. Sports had never been her things and the times she’d been around Molly’s older brothers and the subject had come up she’d always just tuned out for a few minutes. “What’s your team’s name?”

“The D-Backs.”

“I’m sorry, did you say D-Bags?”

“No, no, D-Backs.” Patrick stressed the second syllable that time with a shake of his head. “Like the Diamondbacks.”

“Oh…Why didn’t you guys just actually go with the Diamondbacks?”

He laughed at that with a little shake of his head and a shrug. “Honestly, I dunno. Ty said something about too many letters but I never really asked. Everybody gets it wrong the first time they hear it though.”

“Sounds like you guys might wanna change your name.”

“Eh, you get attached to it after a while. Besides, we’ve already got all the jerseys and everything so it’d just mean everyone shelling out more money for new uniforms.”

“Makes sense, I suppose,” she said as they reached the bottom of the stairs, turning to take her things off his hands. He kept a hold on everything, just gesturing for her to continue to lead the way. She hesitated for a second before heading for the building’s front door, holding it open as he followed her back out into the summer heat. “So do you guys have a lot of games or is it just for part of the summer or something?”

“There’s about a dozen games between all the teams before the playoffs.” There was a pause as they made their way over to wear her red Toyota was parked and then he added, “We’ve actually got a game this Saturday, over at the ball fields at Woodfield Park. Playing this team from Poughkeepsie. Should be a pretty good game.”

They stopped at her car, Kira opening the back door and tossing her tote bag back there before grabbing the things he’d been carrying for her. A handful of things were going through her head at the moment and the voice that was loudest unsurprisingly was Molly’s, telling her to get her ass in gear. “What - what time’s the game?”

That seemed to catch him off guard, his brown eyes widening a bit as he reached up to run a hand through short auburn hair. It was her first chance to really look at him for more than a moment without getting embarrassed by the situation. Molly had been right to give him the blanket label of cute neighbor. “It, uh, it starts at one. You a baseball fan?”

She offered a sheepish grin and a shrug as she closed the car door. “Not exactly. But there’s always a first time for everything so who knows? Maybe I just need to find the right team to root for.”

He smiled at that, hands slipping into the pockets of his track pants now that they weren’t holding anything. “In that case, I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

“Sounds good. Oh, and thanks again. For helping with my crap. And not reporting us to the super the other night. It’s much appreciated.”

“My pleasure.” He stepped back from the car as she opened the front door, sliding behind the wheel. He offered a little half wave which she returned, smiling back warmly and trying not to think too hard on the fact she’d just offered to attend a sporting event for a guy she’d just met. She was definitely never going to hear the end of this.


End file.
